6.  The applicants were born in 1973 and 1978 respectively and are currently being held in the Gaziosmanpaşa Foreigners’ Admission and Accommodation Centre in Kırklareli.
7.  The applicants joined the People’s Mojahedin Organisation in Iran (“the PMOI”, also known as the “Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization”) in 1992 and 2001 respectively. They arrived in Iraq on unspecified dates. They lived in Al-Ashraf camp, where PMOI members were accommodated in Iraq, until they left the organisation in 2005 and 2006 respectively, because they disagreed with the PMOI’s goals and methods. After leaving the PMOI, they went to the Temporary Interview and Protection Facility (“TIPF”), a camp created by the United States forces in Iraq. This facility was subsequently named the Ashraf Refugee Camp (“ARC”).
8.  On 5 May 2006 and 16 October 2007, after being interviewed, the applicants were recognised as refugees by the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva during their stay in Iraq. As regards the first applicant, the UNHCR found that he had a well-founded fear of persecution in Iran on grounds of his political opinion, his character and the firm conviction with which he held his political opinions. In particular, having regard to the applicant’s link to the PMOI for 10 years, to the treatment of members of the PMOI in Iran and to his explicit opinions on the need for a secular State in his country of origin, the UNHCR considered that the applicant had established to a reasonable degree that his situation would be followed up by the security agencies which would make his stay in Iran intolerable if he returned there.
9.  As regards the second applicant, the UNHCR found that he had a well-founded fear of violations by Iranian authorities of, inter alia, his right to life through an arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, freedom from torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest or detention, as well as his right to a fair and public trial. In particular, having regard to the applicant’s membership of the PMOI and to his political opinions and the treatment of actual and suspected members of the PMOI and its sympathisers in Iran, the UNCHR considered that the evidentiary threshold of “reasonable likelihood” that the applicant would face treatment such as arbitrary detention and torture was satisfied.
10.  In April 2008 the TIPF was closed down and the applicants, along with other former PMOI members, were transferred to northern Iraq.
11.  On an unspecified date the applicants arrived in Turkey. They were arrested by security forces and, as they had entered Turkish territory illegally, were deported back to Iraq on 17 June 2008.
12.  They immediately re-entered Turkey.
13.  On 21 June 2008 they were arrested by road checkpoint gendarmerie officers from the Gökyazı gendarme station, in Muş, as their passports were found to be false.
14.  On 21 June 2008 the applicants made statements to the gendarmerie officers. The applicants contended that they would be executed if returned to Iran, due to their opposition to the Iranian Government’s policies, and that their lives had also been at risk in Iraq. They stated that they wished to go to Istanbul in order to request asylum and leave for Canada.
15.  The applicants were subsequently placed in the foreigners’ department at the police headquarters in the Hasköy district of Muş.
16.  On 23 June 2008 the Muş public prosecutor filed a bill of indictment with the Muş Magistrates’ Court, charging the applicants with illegal entry into Turkey.
17.  On the same day the applicants were brought before the Muş Magistrates’ Court. Noting that the applicants would be deported, the judge communicated the bill of indictment to the applicants and took their statements regarding the charge against them. The applicants submitted that they had left Iran as they faced a risk of death in that country and that they had come to Turkey illegally, with the assistance of a smuggler, in order to go to Canada where they had family. The magistrates’ court convicted the applicants as charged but decided to defer the imposition of a sentence for a period of five years in accordance with Article 231 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The applicants were subsequently taken back to the Hasköy police headquarters.
18.  According to the applicants’ submissions, on 28 June 2008 the national authorities once again attempted to deport them, this time to Iran. The applicants prevented their deportation by speaking Arabic and pretending not to understand Farsi. Consequently, the Iranian authorities refused to admit them to Iran. In their submissions to the Court, the Government made no mention of the purported deportation of the applicants to Iran. Instead, they noted that the applicants would be required to be deported to Northern Iraq, where they had come from.
19.  On 30 June 2008 the director of the Muş branch of the Human Rights Association, Mr Vedat Şengül, went to the Hasköy police headquarters to visit the applicants at the request of the UNHCR Ankara office. According to Mr Şengül’s submissions, on the day of his visit the first applicant had attempted to commit suicide as he had been told by a police officer that he would be deported to Iran. The police had not allowed Mr Şengül to meet the applicants.
20.  On 30 June and 1 and 2 July 2008 the applicants made further statements to the police and contended that they were former members of the PMOI. The first applicant noted that he had had English, Farsi and Arabic lessons as well as military training when he was in the organisation. He also stated that, while in the TIPF, he had been a photographer and taught Arabic. He said that he had not been involved in any armed activity. The second applicant stated that, apart from the aforementioned languages, he had also learned Turkish when he had been a member of the PMOI. He contended that he had lived in the TIPF for two years and had never been involved in any armed activity. Both applicants stated that they had come to Turkey in order to apply to the UNHCR, following advice by AmericanUSA officials to do so.
21.  The applicants submitted identical petitions in Farsi to the police in Hasköy, which read as follows:
“We entered Turkey with the assistance of a smuggler from the city of Diyana. We are refugees and used to reside in Erbil, Iraq. We came to Turkey in order to contact the UNHCR and ask it to process our [resettlement] cases. The UNHCR’s headquarters in Iraq was blown up by terrorists and it no longer has an office there. We request to stay in Turkey temporarily so that our cases can be processed. Our friends advised us that the only way to contact the UNHCR was to come to Turkey. We need a lawyer before we communicate [with you] further.”
22.  The applicants signed these petitions. They also wrote down their UNHCR case numbers, the names of their parents and their dates of birth.
23.  The applicants were held at the Hasköy police headquarters, in Muş until 26 September 2008, when they were transferred to the Kırklareli Foreigners’ Admission and Accommodation Centre.
24.  On 18 October 2008 the applicants drafted petitions addressed to the Kırklareli governor’s office and sought temporary asylum in Turkey. According to the information in the case file, the applicants have not yet received any reply to their petitions.
25.  On 15 December 2008 the second applicant married another Iranian asylum seeker held in the Kırklareli Foreigners’ Admission and Accommodation Centre. The director of the Centre assisted them in obtaining their marriage certificate.
26.  On 16 January 2009 the second applicant had a power of attorney notarised for Mr A. Baba, and subsequently Ms S. Uludağ, lawyers practising in Istanbul, to represent him in Turkey. The notary agreed to notarise the power of attorney on the basis of the aforementioned marriage certificate.
27.  On 16 March 2009 the second applicant’s lawyer filed a petition with the Ministry of the Interior, challenging the second applicant’s detention. According to the information in the case file, the second applicant has not yet received any reply to his petition.
28.  On 25 March 2009, upon a request from the UNHCR, the Government of Sweden agreed to examine the applicants’ cases for resettlement there. According to the information in the case file, that examination is still pending.